


to be sorted again

by sujing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Riddle at Hogwarts Era, Sorting Ceremony, Time Travel, Trope Subversion, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 11:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18991738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sujing/pseuds/sujing
Summary: Harry is experiencing the Sorting Ceremony for the second time when he realises how horribly wrong it could go.





	to be sorted again

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Week 4 of May's writing exercises from the Discord server Little Red's Writing Hood. ("Trope Subversion/Trope Mash-Up".)

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore calls from the front of the Great Hall. He looks nothing like the aged wizard of Harry's time—aside from a distinct lack of common fashion sense, he is so unrecognisable that he may as well be an entirely different person. His hair is a warm auburn rather than white, and he no longer sports his signature beard or his half-moon glasses (or rather, has yet to).

Most of all, he is alive.

Harry walks up to the rickety-looking, four-legged stool resting before Dumbledore (who has yet to even become the headmaster, Harry realises with a pained jolt). He sits down, feeling his anxiety mount as he awaits his judgement. Before him is a sea of unfamiliar faces in familiar (yet not) uniforms.

Across the hall at the Slytherin table, Harry spots _him_  at its head, the one face among the students he does recognise. It is Tom Riddle, reigning Head Boy and Prefect, looking utterly comfortable in his position among his housemates. It is his seventh year at Hogwarts, just as it is to be Harry's, displaced and lost in time as he is. He swallows in nervous anticipation.

As the Sorting Hat is dropped on his head, Harry remembers how his first Sorting almost went. Back when he was eleven, he'd known little more than that he definitely didn't want to be in the same house as Malfoy, yet he had only barely avoided that fate.

Riddle would be so much worse.

 _NOT SLYTHERIN!_ he thinks so loudly that the Hat seems to jump in surprise.

 _Not Slytherin, eh?_  its voice muses with a faint tinge of mirth. Harry feels a tickling sensation as the Hat ruffles through his mind. _But you've been through Gryffindor once already, haven't you?_

 _Not Slytherin, not Slytherin, anything but Slytherin..._  Harry chants as if in prayer.

_No? Will you do nothing to stop this future Dark Lord from rising? Only you can, and being in Slytherin would lend you a great advantage..._

Harry pauses. That sounds like a half-decent plan. Though he previously committed himself to finding a way back home (to Ron, to Hermione, to _everyone_ ), would he ever forgive himself if he lets this opportunity to vanquish Voldemort before he can hurt any more people slip by? Harry doesn't want to sacrifice himself in this manner, but the war was going so badly—seemed so hopeless—does he have a choice at all?

 _I... Sort me into Slytherin,_  Harry decides. It feels like a death sentence.

_Fascinating...such a willingness to go to any lengths for those dear to you. For you, there is only..._

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"GRYFFINDOR!"

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by poor Harry constantly getting Sorted into Slytherin in Riddle-era time travel fics <3


End file.
